Btjikding for preserving



B.- M. NYCEV Refrigerator Building. I No. 31,734. Ptented March). 1861.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN M. NYOE, OF KINGSTON, INDIANA.

BUILDING FOR PRESERVING FRUITS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN M. NYCE, of Kingston, in the county of Decatur and State of Indiana, have invented a new and Improved Preserving-House; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure 1, is a perspective vertical section of a preserving house embodying my improvements. Figs. 2, and 3, are respectively a transverse and a longitudinal section of the same.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This is an improvement in that class of houses or" rooms which are formed with insulating walls, which inclose a refrigerating apparatus and suitable receptacles for the preservation of fruit and other perishable substances, and the invention consists in, let, a mode of supporting and insulating the ice that secures the most free, equal and rapid conduction of heat at every part; 2nd, a pcculiar form of insulating cover for the ice reservoir; 3rd, the provision of an entrance chamber or vestibule for purposes hereinafter explained; 4th, a certain arrangement of absorbent vessels; 5th, a provision to indicate excess of moisture; 6th, a provision for communication with the outside under certain conditions of the atmosphere.

That portion of the ground surface A, inclosed by the foundation walls B, is leveled carefully 0H and coated with some durable and impervious substance C, such as pitch, asphaltum, hydraulic cement or mastic. If any resinous or bituminous material is employed it must be covered by cement, sheetmetal or other inodorous substance. Upon the bed thus provided there is spread and closely packed a layer of about three and a half feet of chaff D, upon which are placed suitable oists E, for the support and attachment of a vapor tight floor F, which may be of strong tongued and grooved boards or of sheet-metal or of cemented tiles.

The inclosing walls should be as nearly air and heat tight as possible, and may be con.- structed as follows :Gr, is an outer and G, an inner frame work of scantling sheathed with sheet-metal I, I, of which the portions I, in contact with the inner and outer air, are

31,734, dated March 19, 1861; Reissued January No. 3,252. I

of iron, and the portions I, which inclose the ice reservoir, are of zinc, The joints of the metal should be well luted or soldered, so as to prevent the passage of air, vapor, or odor of any kind.

Rooms of large size intended for the preservation of various kinds of delicate viands should be subdivided into a number of distinct compartments by means of sheet-metal partitions.

The entrance passage J, is guarded by two doors K, K, one of which (K,) is made hollow. The interior of these doors, and also the annular space between the walls G, G, is packed with chaff or other suitable nonconductor.

L, are joists for supporting the ice reservoir. These joists are either wholly, or at least at their upper edges, of metal, and should be sufficiently near together to afford adequate support to the floor N, of the ice reservoir, and of the smallest practicable upper surface consisting of edges Z, or points Z, so as to secure the greatest and most equal exposure of every part of the floor M, to the air of the preserving apartment and so as to obtain a uniform refrigerating action and equal melting and pressureof the ice at every part.

The floor M, of the ice reservoir N, is composed of galvanized (zinced) iron of suflicient thickness to sustain a full charge of ice without sagging. The floor M, descends slightly to one or more ventages m,'for the meltings of the ice.

O, P is 'a cover, which for large rooms consists of the represented rectangular frame 0 open at its central portion, and

supporting a diaphragm P, of tarpaulin, india-rubber or other flexible andimpervious material. The cover 0, P should extend inward far enough to support the diaphragm and prevent the sinking of the latter between the body of the melting ice and the sides of the reservoir. The space between the cover 0, P and the roof Q, is packed with chaff or other light non-conductor.

R, are cords depending from the roof, by which the cover 0, P may be suspended at any desired height and maintained in. a horizontal position being let down from time to time as the ice melts.

The described open construction of cover 0, P obviously subjects it to less strain and enables it to be set down more snugly upon the ice.

The open rectangular frame or floor 0, by supporting the skirts of the diaphragm prevents the settling of the chaff between the ice and the sides of the reservoir, which, when it takes place, acts to moisten and heat the chaff so as to cause it to act in destruction of the very object of its use.

T, is an atmospheric agitator which may be driven by wind or otherwise and may be constructed and operated substantially similar to the agitator described in my patent granted Nov. 2, 1858 and reissued Oct. 23, 1860.

Long shallow and fiat bottomed troughs U open at their ends are affixed to the walls of the preserving room in a position which is slightly inclined from end to end. The bottoms of these troughs are covered by a thin layer of chlorid of calcium which as it deliquesces, gradually descends and is caught in a liquid form in a vessel Q. The solu tion being dried over a fire is returned to the upper end of the trough with sufficient frequency to present a continuous and umform supply of desiccating material. I

V, are pans for charcoal or other antlseptic substance.

The agitator T acts to-bring every particle of the contained air successively in contact with the provisions and with the absorbents so as constantly to deplete said air of all aqueous and septic gases.

1 are shelves for the support and arrangement of provisions.

V, is a vestibule or ante-chamber, placed in front of the entrance to the main-chamber and having at its upper portion a coil X, or tank 00, for the reception of the meltings from the ice reservoir. The vestibule WV is furnished with contrivances for the purification, drying and agitation of the air, as in the main chamber. It may be a long low building, of somewhat less cubic capacity than the main chamber, and in large buildings may be subdivided by vertical partitions, for different temperatures, in which case the furnace for drying the spent chlorid of calcium may be located in the outer compartment. The temperature of the vestibule is varied by opening and closing faucets w in coil X so as to enable the gradual ripening and warming of fruit taken from the'main chamber. This coil or tank repeats in a less degree the cooling action of the ice reservoir N, in the main chamber.

V, is a double window which is closed by a thick nonconducting shutter V, except when light is absolutely necessary.

The temperature of the vestibule is intended to be about seven to ten degrees of Fahrenheit above that of the main chamber, that is to say, from forty to forty five degrees Fahrenheit. Several very marked advantages result from the provision of the described vestibule, for example, entrance and exit may be effected without the admission of either cooled or heated atmospheric air. The vestibule may be used for what I call an annealing chamber that is to say, articles intended for removal, may be previously exposed to the moderate temperature of the vestibule and be shifted gradually from the inner to the outer end thereof, so as to avoid the injurious effects of sudden changes of temperature and the wetting arising from the deposition of atmospheric moisture.

may be employed with advantage for the preservation of sweet potatoes, and like tender vegetables that will not bear a cold within five degrees of the freezing point. The vestibule is also well adapted for ripening fruit in which that process has been arrested by the atmosphere of the main room.

Experience has proved that when the external atmosphere is clear and dry and at a temperature between 34 and 38 Fahrenheit a material saving of absorbents may be effected, by opening a communication with the outside air. This is usually accomplished by partially or wholly throwing open the doors but in order to prevent the entrance of rats, mice, etc., I inter-pose a guard of wire gauze is.

It being important to regulate to a nicety the exact hygrometric condition of the con tained air, I employ a hygrometer consisting of a bent beam 3, poised on a fulcrum 4, and carrying at one end a cup 5, for solution of chlorid of calcium or other deliquescent substance, and at its other end a pointer 6, which by its position upon a scale 7, serves to indicate the slightest excess of moisture.

The desiccating substance is spread in the dry form all along the troughs U, and as it deliquesces the solution being caught in suitable vessels Q, is dried and returned to the troughs, the desiccating agent is preserved in full efficiency. Each thousand bushels of apples give off moisture sufficient to make from a quart to a gallon of solution daily. Under ordinary circumstances I have found it necessary to employ a bulk of dry chlorid equal to about one five thousandths of the cubical contents of the preserving chamber.

A room upon this plan of construction has proved by actual test capable of being maintained at a uniform temperature throughout the year of from 83 to 35 with perfect freedom from dampness.

The invention has reference chiefly to large houses capable of storing ten thousand bushels and upward.

Vhat I claim as new and of my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The construction of a preserving house whose lower chamberto contain provisionsis separated from its upper or ice One or more vestibules nished as described With the main preserving chamber, all constructed as set forth.

l. In combination with chambers for pre serving fruit as described, the use of inclined desiccating troughs U and hygrometer attachments 3,4, 5, 6 7, substantially as set forth.

In testimony of Which invention I hereunto set my hand.

BENJ. M. NYCE. WVitnesses:

Gno. H. KNIGHT, FRANCIS MILLWARD. 

